Virtual pet system

ABSTRACT

A virtual pet breeding system that allows users of the game to buy virtual pets for their account which can be bred to obtain or generate new virtual pets (offspring) that are added to the user&#39;s account, wherein at least some of the offspring can materialize into a physical toy or object for the user to enjoy in the real world. In particular, some virtual offspring will be paired with a redemption code which allows the user to order and/or receive a real world/physical item resembling the virtual offspring that was produced from the virtual breeding.

BACKGROUND

U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,525 describes the applicant's system whichrevolutionized the field of virtual toys that resemble a real toy.According to that patent, toys which were sold came with a secret codewhich could be redeemed on a website or online game in order to obtain avirtual representation of the toy that could be interacted with on thewebsite or online game.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The inventor recognizes, however, that a system such as this in whichtoys are sold, yields an income stream that scales linearly with thenumber of toys that have been made. For example, the market can becomesaturated with toys of a certain type if too many of them are made. Thisin turn reduces the demand, and reduces the sales. Therefore, there isnecessarily a limit to the size of the market that can be made for thesekinds of toys, and hence a limit on the total income one can get fromthose toys.

According to one embodiment, a breeding game system is described thatallows users of the game to buy virtual pets for their account which canbe bred to create new virtual pets (offspring) that are added to theuser's account. According to one embodiment, different virtual pets havedifferent levels of rarity, and the rarity of the pet impacts the rarityof its potential offspring.

According to an embodiment, a certain percentage of the breedings leadto a physical toy, by providing a code to the user which can be redeemedfor the physical toy, thus providing a physical toy as a byproduct ofbreeding the virtual pets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram; and

FIG. 2 shows a code with a pet within a virtual pet breeding systemand/or game which allows users an opportunity to breed their virtualpets to obtain a virtual offspring pet as well as a real-world plush toythat resembles that virtual offspring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,525 refers to an entertainment system including awebsite. Users can purchase toys, and once having obtained a toy, theuser can register the toy online using a registration code. Theregistration code allows the user access to a virtual representation ofthe toy that was purchased. The user is also allowed access to variousactivities and scenarios in a virtual world including a virtualrepresentation of the toy, and of any other toys that the user haspurchased and registered. The virtual world is shown via a computer oran app running on a mobile device connected to the Internet. The virtualworld can also be shown “offline”, e.g., at times when the computer orthe app is not necessarily connected to the Internet.

The current embodiments go against the teachings in this establishedtechnology, by creating a breeding game system for virtual pets, and theresults of the breeding of the virtual pets is the creation of a virtualoffspring pet that may include the provision of a code (such as aredemption code), which code can then be redeemed to obtain a real worldtoy or item (referred to as a redemption toy or item) which resemblesthe virtual offspring. The redemption code is not provided with allvirtual offspring, as described herein, so that sometimes the offspringwill be provided with the redemption code, and at other times, thevirtual offspring will not be provided with such code. In essence, whenusers carry out the breeding, the user gets a redemption code only someof the time, and other times, the user does not get that code.Therefore, from the point of view of the user, the code is receivedrandomly.

In another embodiment, the redemption toy/item can be provided in someway other than via a code provided to the user. For example, the usermay receive a certificate or a link to click on in order to receive theredemption toy/item.

An embodiment shown in FIG. 1 uses an entertainment system 1 with aserver 2 that communicates with a virtual world providing subsystem 7, astorage subsystem 5, and a registration subsystem 6. A user 10 obtainsproducts from a retail store 9 via a toy manufacturer 8, or onlinethrough e-commerce.

In one embodiment, each virtual pet purchased by a user is available forbreeding, meaning that every virtual pet that is obtained can breed withany other virtual pet in the user's account. However, the virtual pet'sdegree of rarity determines the results of the breeding. Breedingrequires a minimum of 2 virtual pets to be held on one account.

All virtual pets will have a limited number of times that they canbreed. For example, free virtual pets, can be bred once, virtual petswhich are purchased can be bred up to 3 times, and special breedingvirtual pets can be bred up to 5 times.

The virtual pets each have a certain degree of rarity. The rarity canvary from “common” (which is the most common), to uncommon, to rare, tosuper rare and finally to ultra-rare (which is the most rare). Purchasedvirtual pets of the same type look identical, in that they have commonfeatures such as eye color and fur color for example. These commonfeatures are considered the base features for that virtual pet.

The breeding of virtual pets result in virtual offspring. Theseoffspring begin as babies. The offspring grow over time to a full size.In one embodiment, once the virtual offspring are full-grown, theoffspring are able to breed.

In one embodiment, each virtual offspring from the same breeding pairwill not necessarily look identical to either of the virtual parents,but rather will have different features and/or common features.According to one embodiment, for example, a vitual pet dog may breedwith a virtual purple unicorn. For this breeding, there are equalchances that the offspring will be the same type of virtual pet as oneof the virtual parents: 50% chance the offspring will be a dog and 50%chance the offspring will be a unicorn. In another example, a virtualpet dog may breed with a virtual pet cat and the virtual offspring couldbe a Pegasus. The Pegasus may or may not have features in common witheither virtual parent (i.e., the virtual pet dog or cat).

In one embodiment, all virtual offspring have at least one featuredifferent from the base features of the virtual pet of its type. Basefeatures may include eye color, coat color, hair color, hair/fur type,and species. For example, if the virtual offspring of a horse and amonkey is a cat, that offspring may have a different fur pattern fromone or both parents. The offspring's different features can have theirown rarity. The number of different features and rarity of the differentfeatures can be determined by the offspring's rarity.

In one embodiment, the rarity of and number of times a virtual pet canbe bred are not tied to the pet type, but rather are bundled with thevirtual pet at the time of purchase or creation of the virtual pet. Theprice for the virtual pet may depend on the breeding rarity and numberof breeding uses, where less common or more rare pets and pets with morebreeding capability will cost more.

In the example given above, a virtual pet dog may be considered a commonpet, and the virtual purple unicorn may be a rare pet. This combinationwill have specific odds for the rarity of its offspring. For example,the breeding may result in a common pet 40% of the time, an uncommon pet35% of the time, a rare pet 20% of the time and an even lesser chancefor an ultra-rare pet or super rare pet. Other percentages are of coursecontemplated.

In one embodiment, not all virtual pets are able to be bred. Forexample, some pets such as the one-of-a-kind pets, special partner petsand holiday pets cannot be bred.

In one embodiment, the pets must be qualified as full-grown or of asufficient virtual age in order to breed. Neither the gender nor thespecies of the pets affects the breeding. Virtual offspring may have atleast one characteristic or feature in common with at least one parent.Alternatively, it is also possible that the virtual offspring have nocharacteristic or feature in common with at least one parent.

In one embodiment, there is a cost, e.g., in virtual currency, that mustbe paid in order to breed. In one embodiment, the virtual currency isshown as “diamonds”. “Diamonds” are purchased through the game with realworld money establishing a breeding game system as a revenue source.

One embodiment provides for the ability to obtain real world toys orother physical items, called redemption toys/items, through the virtualpet breeding game system. The breeding of two virtual pets producesvirtual offspring and the awarding of a redemption code that can beredeemed for a redemption toy/item that resembles the virtual offspring.

In one embodiment, redemption toys or items will have a fixed design,and will be in limited edition since only a fixed number of thesetoys/items will be made. The redemption code permits the purchase or thereward of the redemption toy/item from the manufacturer or itsdistributor or other designated party. See FIG. 2, which shows theredemption code which was obtained from breeding virtual pets to yieldvirtual offspring. The redemption code permits the user to purchase orotherwise obtain the redemption toy or item. The redemption toy or itemis a representation of the virtual offspring. Breeding virtual petswhich are more rare (or are defined to have rare features) increases thechances of being awarded a redemption code.

In one embodiment, there may be multiple redemption toys/itemsavailable—each with their own fixed number of toys/items. For example, aRare Redemption Toy may have 10 times the number of toys made as aLimited Edition Redemption Toy; and then there could also be a special,hand-made, one-of-a-kind Redemption Toy made as an ultimate prize forplaying in the breeding game system.

This new scenario is completely different from the usual toy selling andpurchasing scenario. In a present embodiment, users purchase virtualpets, which are added to their user account. Having virtual pets thatcan breed provides an opportunity to create virtual offspring and achance to obtain a redemption code which can be redeemed to obtain alimited edition redemption toy/item. Alternatively, users purchase aphysical toy which includes a unique code that is registered online on awebsite. After registration, a virtual pet that resembles the physicaltoy is added to the user's (online) account. When the user's account hasvirtual pets that can breed, and breeding is completed, then virtualoffspring results. The virtual offspring may provide a redemption codefor a redemption item (e.g., a physical toy-like version of the virtualoffspring). The redemption code is redeemed for the redemption item.This model creates additional, previously unrealized value for thepurchase of virtual pets and toys with codes that can be registered toobtain a virtual pet.

The model embodied extends the revenue potential of each redemptiontoy/item, as numerous breedings will occur, which will cause redemptioncodes to be rewarded with at least some of those breedings. Theredemption codes will be redeemed and through redeeming the codes,redemption toys/items closely resembling the virtual offspring will bepurchased. Because the fixed numbers of redemption toys/items made foreach limited edition redemption code can be scaled based on the realworld numbers of breedings taking place, the model is not tied to thewhims and fluctuations of the retail marketplace.

In the operation of one embodiment, the user selects two virtual pets tobreed. Breeding may be represented by a machine that the user's virtualpet enters. Entering the machine brings up the breeding user interface.The breeding UI displays the user's full list of virtual pets that areavailable for breeding. Virtual pets that are not breedable, or havealready been bred to their maximum will be grayed out on this list. Therarity indicator of each virtual pet as well as the number of breedingsstill allowed, are also indicated on this list. When the virtual petsare bred, there is an animation with lights and sparkles, and thepresentation of a new baby virtual offspring. As explained above, thevirtual offspring that results from the breeding is based on the rarity,type and generation of the parent virtual pets, according to an oddschart. After selecting any two virtual pets, the system will show anarea where the users can see the potential results from the combination.The results will fade from one result to the next, as if the parents aredreaming about what their offspring will look like.

The generation of the virtual pet can provide a modifier to the chartthat increases the odds of getting a higher rarity virtual pet. In thisembodiment, the generation of the pet can be determined as:

-   -   generation 1: the virtual pet had two non-bred parents;    -   generation 2: the virtual pet had one non-bred parent and one        bred parent; and    -   generation 3: the vitual pet had two bred parents.

In order to provide at least some control to the user, special featuresof the virtual parents can influence, affect or impact the odds of theoffspring's features towards the same type of feature. For example:

-   -   parent A is a cat with an uncommon back pattern and uncommon fur        color.    -   parent B is a dog with a rare face pattern, uncommon back        pattern and common markings.    -   the baby (offspring) is determined to be an uncommon cat with a        rare feature and an uncommon feature.    -   for the rare feature, in one embodiment, getting a face pattern        would have +10% odds (taken from the other options equally). As        the rare face pattern is from the dog, if a rare face pattern is        selected, both options would have equal odds.    -   for the uncommon feature, in one embodiment back pattern would        be +20% odds and fur color is +10% odds.    -   in the case that the back pattern is selected, the offspring        would be given the back pattern of the parent, as they are the        same species.

When the vitual offspring arrives as a baby, only the fur color isdisplayed, and the final rarity of the new virtual offspring is notshown. Those are to be discovered through playing with the virtualoffspring in the virtual world.

Babies (Virtual Offspring in Baby Mode):

When the baby is added to the user's account, it is placed into the homein a 2×1 tile crib on the reserved front path.

The baby is a full avatar, just one that cannot be actively played inthe world.

The baby will appear on the “my pets” page (the user's page of all petsregistered in the account) with their current growth progress (seebelow).

It will be possible to choose to play as the baby where the user playsthe baby pet in a special “baby view” mode—not the normal webkinz playmode.

The crib can be moved just like any item.

While an active virtual pet is in the same room as the virtualbaby/offspring, and the baby is awake, it will make simple, icon-basedrequests, such as:

-   -   hungry    -   tired    -   grumpy    -   sad    -   play    -   clean me

To meet these needs, the player will click on the crib to enter “playwith baby” mode.

In this mode the camera will zoom into the baby similar to how thecamera moves into a pet for dressing.

Here the player will be given several button-based options:

-   -   give bottle    -   give food    -   change diaper    -   shake rattle    -   give teddy    -   baby talk    -   funny face    -   tickle    -   lullaby

Users can enter this mode at any time to play with their baby. Theoptions can be used to meet the baby's needs, or simply to enjoy theirpet.

If the baby gets too irritated, it will start to cry and then fallasleep. It is also possible to put your pet to sleep happily. Once ababy is asleep or crying, the activity will automatically end.

Visitors to the virtual pet's home may also play with the baby usingthis feature but will never see the icon-based requests.

Once every x hours, the baby will give a special request called a“growth moment”. These requests will be given a unique treatment. Theplayer should pay special attention during these requests.

When one of these needs are met, the growth meter will be displayed andshown to move one step up.

After X growth moments, where X can be 20 in one embodiment, the babywill be ready to upgrade to a kid. A button to upgrade will now appearon the pet's mypets page and as an option when playing with the baby(account owner only).

The baby will not automatically upgrade at any point. If a player wantsto keep their pet as a baby forever, they may.

Once a baby is ready to upgrade, that baby will no longer receive growthmoment requests.

Kid Mode (for Virtual Offspring):

Once the player decides to upgrade their pet to kid mode, the systemdisplays an animation of the baby raising out of the crib then spinningwith a happy look on its face creating a wave of sparkles—thenstretching and squashing until it appears as its kid mode.

Two unique features will be displayed in this mode. If one of the uniquefeatures is fur color (displayed as baby) only one feature will beadded.

In kid mode, the virtual pet can be used as a regular virtual pet,including regular feeding, dressing and playing.

Kids will have a pet care heart like a normal virtual pet and will havepet requests.

Kid pets will have specific pet requests that are written to sound morelike a kid asking their parent and will include more “let's play” typeof requests.

As with the babies, once every x hours, a pet request will be flagged asa growth moment, and displayed in a special word balloon with a growthicon.

Completing a growth moment request will bring up the growth meter andincrease the size by one step.

After x growth moments, where x is 20 in an embodiment, the virtualchild/kid pet will be ready to upgrade to fully grown. A button toupgrade will now appear on the pet's mypets page.

The virtual kid pet will not automatically upgrade at any point.

Once the virtual kid pet is ready to upgrade, they will no longerreceive growth moment requests.

Final Reveal:

When the user clicks to upgrade their virtual kid pet to fully grown,they will be shown the final reveal of their virtual offspring pet.

In one embodiment, this blacks out the background, brings the virtualkid pet up on the screen to appear relatively large in the middle of thescreen, then with a flash of light and sparkles, the virtual pet growsto or becomes a full-grown version of the pet.

At this point, all the special features of the virtual pet are displayedon the virtual pet.

Each special feature is shown, one at a time, by rotating/zooming thevirtual pet to display the best view of the feature, with its rarityshown.

After showing all the special features, the final rarity of the virtualpet is revealed.

The user is then returned to the game world.

The final rarity of the virtual pet will be added to the pet's mypets(pet collection) page.

Redemption Pets/Toys (Obtained from a Redeemed Redemption Code) areReal-World Toys/Figurines/Items Created to Resemble a Virtual OffspringPet:

For each parent rarity combination, there is a chance to be awarded aredemption pet instead of getting a randomly generated virtual offspringpet.

Redemption virtual offspring pets have a fixed texture and/or overallappearance. The redemption toy/item for this virtual offspring pet willbe designed to resemble the look of the virtual pet.

Currently there are two potential rarities of redemption pets from thebreeding system: rare and limited edition.

When a redemption pet is created in the virtual world, it is presentedin a special fashion that differs from a regular breed. The limitededition presentation is even more special.

The user is given a redemption code to be used at a designated estore toget the chance to purchase their redemption toy (a real world orphysical toy/item version of the virtual offspring).

The code will have an expiry date set to a fixed number of days afterawarding. This will allow a limited edition toy to be held for the userbut released automatically if the user decides not to carry out theredemption.

The redemption toy itself will not come with a pet (registration) codefor getting a virtual pet, as the virtual offspring pet has already beenadopted (via breeding) and added onto the user account by virtue of the“parent” pets that were previously registered to that account.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a server computer whichcommunicates with a plurality of remote computers, and is programmed tocreate signals that cause a display to be created on the remotecomputers, where the display creates a virtual world which displaysmultiple virtual pets associated with a user of a remote computer, wherethe server computer allows the user to carry out a simulated breedingprocess between the virtual pets, by accepting a request from the userto carry out the breeding process between the virtual pets, and based onthe request from the user to carry out the breeding process, to create avirtual offspring from the virtual pets, and to provide access to thevirtual offspring to the user in the virtual world, and where, sometimes, the server computer carries out the simulated breeding to providea redemption code to the user, and at other times, the server computercarries out the simulated breeding without providing the redemption codeto the user, where the redemption code is redeemed for a physical itemresembling the virtual offspring.
 2. The system as in claim 1, whereineach of the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level, and furthercomprising an odds chart stored on the server computer which sets alikelihood of offspring characteristics, and where the virtual offspringalso is assigned a rarity level from the server computer that isaffected by rarity levels of both of the multiple virtual pets.
 3. Thesystem as in claim 2, wherein the odds chart stored on the servercomputer also includes information about whether the virtual pets werepreviously bred or not bred.
 4. The system as in claim 1, wherein eachof the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level that defines how rarethe virtual pet is, and pets which are more rare have a higher chance ofbeing awarded the redemption code.
 5. The system as in claim 3, whereina first redemption code has a first rarity level called a rareredemption code that is redeemed for a rare redemption toy, and a secondredemption code has a second rarity level, more rare than the firstredemption code that is redeemed for a limited edition toy.
 6. Thesystem as in claim 1, wherein the computer stores a collection of theuser's virtual pets, and stores and displays a user interface for thebreeding, showing a list of the user's virtual pets which are availablefor breeding.
 7. The system as in claim 1, wherein the virtualrepresentation of the physical item is automatically added to the user'scollection of virtual pets.
 8. The system as in claim 1, wherein theserver computer displays potential results from breeding among thecollection of virtual pets when multiple virtual pets are selected. 9.The system as in claim 1, where the virtual offspring includes at leastone feature common to at least one of the selected subset of themultiple virtual pets.
 10. A method comprising: using a server computerfor communicating with a plurality of remote computers; using the servercomputer to create signals that cause a display to be created on theremote computers, where the display creates a virtual world whichdisplays multiple virtual pets associated with a user of a remotecomputer; allowing the user to carry out a simulated breeding processbetween the multiple virtual pets, by accepting a request from the userto carry out the breeding process between the multiple virtual pets, andbased on the request from the user to carry out the breeding process, tocreate a virtual offspring between the multiple virtual pets, and toprovide access to the virtual offspring to the user in the virtualworld; wherein, some times, the server computer providing a redemptioncode to the user and at other times, the server computer carrying outthe simulated breeding without providing the redemption code to theuser; and redeeming the redemption code for a physical version of thevirtual offspring provided to the user.
 11. The method as in claim 10,wherein each of the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level, using anodds chart stored on the server computer which sets a likelihood ofoffspring characteristics, and where the virtual offspring also gets ararity level from the server computer that is dependent on rarity levelof both of the multiple virtual pets.
 12. The method as in claim 11,wherein the odds chart stored on the server computer also includesinformation about whether the pets are bred or not bred.
 13. The methodas in claim 10, wherein each of the virtual pets has an assigned raritylevel that defines how rare the virtual pet is, and pets which are morerare have a higher chance of being awarded the redemption code.
 14. Themethod as in claim 13, wherein a first redemption code has a firstrarity level called a rare redemption code that is redeemed for a rareredemption physical toy, and a second redemption code has a secondrarity level, more rare than the first redemption code that is redeemedfor a limited edition redemptionphysical toy.
 15. The method as in claim10, wherein the server computer stores a collection of the user'svirtual pets, and stores and displays a user interface for the breeding,showing a list of the user's virtual pets which are available forbreeding.
 16. The method as in claim 10, further comprisingautomatically adding a virtual representation of the physical offspringto the user's collection of virtual pets.
 17. The method as in claim 16,wherein the computer displays potential results from breeding among thecollection of virtual pets when multiple virtual pets are selected. 18.The method as in claim 10, where a virtual offspring includes at leastone feature common to at least one of the selected subset of themultiple virtual pets.
 19. The method as in claim 10, where the sometimes appear as random times from a point of view of the user.
 20. Amethod of operating a virtual world with virtual pets, comprising:providing a plurality of codes to a plurality of users, where each coderepresents a virtual pet; receiving, from the users, the codes, andresponsive to receiving a first code from a first user, assigning afirst virtual pet to the first user's account, where the first virtualpet is rendered on a display based on the code, where the first user'saccount is capable of storing multiple virtual pets; responsive to auser requesting breeding between any two of the virtual pets, displayinga breeding user interface which shows a list of virtual pets which areassigned to the user's account and are available for breeding;responsive to selecting the any two virtual pets, and selecting thatbreeding of the any two virtual pets is desired, providing a breeding ofthe selected two virtual pets, which provides a virtual offspring havingat least one characteristic influenced from one of the two virtual pets;and according to an odds chart, selectively providing a redemption codeto the first user along with the virtual offspring, where only some ofthe breedings receive the redemption code, and others of the breedingsdo not receive the redemption code, according to the odds chart; andresponsive to receiving a redemption code from the first user, arrangingto send to the first user, a physical toy version of the virtualoffspring that is based on the redemption code.